One day like a week. . .

We have been so warmly welcomed into this village by the people and are overwhelmed with their friendliness. We’ve been here only a day or so but, having seen so much and met so many new people, it feels like a week already.

Our housemates and ‘minders’, Aneela and Farah, are helping us with some Urdu. Learning to understand the basics, like: come, sit down, go, please and thank you, etc. . . We are a couple of ‘Gories’ here, roughly translating to something like fair-skinned women, we think.

We have started to do a bit in the clinic. It is time consuming to speak to patients through a translator, but it works.

CDRS is well thought of here and Todd has made a very positive impact. There is also a Turkish NGO in town (for constructing homes and clearing landslides), but we are certainly the only New England Yankee women in the area.

The feeling is definitely that Chikar is a remote place. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that there are bulldozers permanently parked along the narrow mountain roads at places where they are routinely cut by slides. At some point we will travel further out to more remote areas.

We’ve had a problem with the laptop, so sending any photos will have to wait until we can sort it out. Such a shame because the imagery is amazing; village life going on amongst the rubble with a butcher, a tailor and others plying their trades, kids flying kites from the helipad, (which doubles as a cricket pitch) and the ever present backdrop of the mountains.

We are very happy to be here and feel quite safe and are looking forward to the work ahead.

Judy and Helen

Safe arrival...a day to remember

It has been amazing thus far. Leaving from the Islamabad airport at 3 am, we drove 5 hours with CDRS Director Todd Shea and Afzal, his right hand man, crammed into this tiny car. Todd entertained us pretty much nonstop. Due to the incredible winding road, Helen missed a bit of the conversation as her head was out the window, ears flapping back in the wind, losing whatever meals we had most recently consumed. Judy was not in the least queasy.

Dawn broke revealing that there was nothing to our left except a thousand foot drop down to the River Jhelum. Breathtakingly perfect rapids for David. . . As we climbed higher, the views of the 15,000 foot nearby peaks came into focus. Behind these rose others which dwarfed them.

As we pulled into Muzaffarabad, signs of the earthquake were evident as well as some improvements. There are still houses crushed and fallen into the river, schools strewn with rubble amid freshly painted buildings.

We arrived into the village Chikar, (village population 4,706 in Chikar Union Council, population 20,238) where CDRS is based (CDRS facilities serve a population of approximately 100,000 people in 6 union councils). We were warmly greeted by the entire staff as we emerged from the car. We are sharing a room with 2 lovely women health care workers.
While clearly the animated musician he is, we have found Todd to be efficient, competent and enormously energetic.

The food is hearty, spiced to our taste and plentiful.
We are healthy and well cared for and happy to be here.
We are going for a walk around town this afternoon and will start working in the clinic in the morning.
Go in peace.

Judy and Helen

Arrived in Islamabad. . .

Judy and Helen arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan about 2:30 am Wednesday morning local time, with the loss of some confiscated duct tape the only mishap. They are now heading off for the 5 hour trip north, to Muzaffarabad and then on to Chikar, where they will be based with CDRS.

Next update will be posted as they report in.

On their way. . .

At last report Helen and Judy were just about to get on the plane at JFK and wanted to thank everyone for their support. Both Miles Hospital in Damariscotta and St. Andrews Hospital in Boothbay Harbor were generous with donations and Judy and Helen are most thankful.

We are waiting to hear that they have arrived safely and will post another message as soon as there is word.

Ready, set. . .

The day of departure has arrived. Just past midnight now and the lists are almost all crossed off or just plain tossed out of the way!

Steinbeck's words from "Travels with Charley" are ringing very true. "Once a journey has been designed, equipped and put in process, a new factor enters and takes over. A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us."

PREDEPARTURE

We will be working with Comprehensive Disaster Response Services (http://www.CDRSPAKISTAN.org) for 6 weeks in the Muzaffarabad District of Pakistan. This is where the earthquake occurred in October 2005 killing over 80,000 people and displacing 3.5 million people. Recently there have been landslides randomly causing further devastation. The roads, hospitals and public services have not yet been fully reestablished. We will be providing primary and emergency care in 4 remote locations.